The RNLI all-weather lifeboat at Great Yarmouth and Gorleston was tasked at 12:21pm on 20 January 2019 by UK Coastguard, to attend a fishing vessel which had a medical casualty onboard.

The Royal National Lifeboat Institution's Samarbeta proceeded to the fishing vessel's position given by Humber Coastguard.

The information received was that there was a very sick casualty onboard who required urgent medical care.

The lifeboat and the fishing vessel met at Corton, where the lifeboat was able to put two crew members onboard the fishing vessel to assess the casualty.

The casualty was suffering from hypoglycemia, due to having diabetes and was treated by the Volunteer Duty Coxswain, who in their day job is a Critical Care Paramedic onboard the East Anglian Air Ambulance and also a volunteer crew member who in their day job is a A&E Advanced Clinical Practitioner.

The RNLI trains crew members in Casaulty Care and this is regularly exercised but Great Yarmouth and Gorleston are fortunate enough that they have medical professionals on the crew and they were both available on this occasion.

Once the casualty was stabilised, the decision was made for the all-weather lifeboat to escort the fishing vessel into its home port of Great Yarmouth.

The local coastguard team from Gorleston and the East of England Ambulance Rapid Responder Paramedic were going to meet the casualty at the station, once the fishing vessel was alongside the station the casualty was brought ashore, monitored and then taken to hospital.

A spokesperson for RNLI said: ‘The fishing vessel did the right thing and took excellent care of the casualty and administered oral sugar, until we were able to get onboard and give the patient glucose via intravenous (IV), so well done to the crew. We wish the gentleman a speedy recovery.'

Key facts about the RNLI

The RNLI charity saves lives at sea. Its volunteers provide a 24-hour search and rescue service around the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland coasts. The RNLI operates over 238 lifeboat stations in the UK and Ireland and more than 240 lifeguard units on beaches around the UK and Channel Islands. The RNLI is independent of Coastguard and government and depends on voluntary donations and legacies to maintain its rescue service. Since the RNLI was founded in 1824, its lifeboat crews and lifeguards have saved over 142,700 lives.